Sentencing of Nicky Reilly shows up our justice system

The sentence meted out to Nicky Reilly is typical of what is wrong with our justice system (Life sentence for inept bomber who targeted restaurant, 31 January). He is a tragic example of many offenders who are wrongly incarcerated as they suffer from one or more of a cluster of disadvantages - low IQ, low educational attainment, mental illness, mental handicap, self-harming, vulnerability and social exclusion. He will meet many more offenders like him, for whom prison offers precious little in the way of effective therapy or rehabilitation.

At present he is obviously a danger to himself and to others, although he was the only victim, so confinement is necessary. But prison is absolutely the wrong place for him, as he is likely to witness much frightening violence and destructive behaviour in our stupidly overcrowded prisons. The odds are against him surviving this ordeal. Lord chancellor Jack Straw is responsible for these punitive penal policies, aided and abetted by elements of the judiciary and the tabloid press, in a search for votes or circulation figures. Expert opinion is that people like Nicky should be confined in a safe, therapeutic environment where they can benefit from sustained rehabilitation work. Judge Calvert-Smith's decision to award a life sentence is wrong in fact and principle. The distress of his relatives is justified and I hope there is a successful appeal. Shirley FrostSheffield

I have an 18-year-old brother who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, and had his life been different, I do not find it hard to imagine that he might have ended up in a situation similar to Nicky Reilly. Reilly has, from what I gather, led a troubled life, even for an autistic person. My brother had the good fortune to be born into a middle-class family capable of giving him everything he needed to thrive: awareness that led to an early diagnosis, the funds to move to good schools for special needs, and now college as well. Are we really ready to accept a judgment on someone, which will adversely affect the rest of their life, just for their misfortune? The judge who sentenced Reilly chose to disavow the medical report on his mental condition, which took into account Reilly's autism, and recommended he be institutionalised in order to make an example of him. We are in a sad state of affairs indeed when the disabled are used as pawns in the great game of the "war on terror".David AustinLeicester